06-09-16 Home Day

Tuesday 6th September 2016

Today is a nothing-to-do kind of day. We mooch about in pyjamas, eat eggs and toast, play splashings with buckets of water on the balcony, experiment with food dyes and wait for Erroll to wake up. Five pm comes and goes and the man is still passed out in bed, so mother and son head out for an hour in the evening into our neighbourhood to practice scooter.

The usual occurs during these episodes of energy bursts: Kingsley expresses enthusiasm to practice scooter, promises to try ‘really hard’ so I dutifully carry it downstairs, he uses it once, then a second time upon threats to take him straight upstairs again. Bored with scootering, Kingsley runs amok, freed from the walls of our apartment, greeting passerby’s with loud ‘HELLO!’ He is charming and bratty all at once. I am the weary mum carrying the toddler gear up and down our side streets. It’s dark now, and I am getting bored with this scene.

Once home, Erroll awakens and more typical behaviour follows: the kid wants his dad and ONLY his dad. Rejected, I slink into the kitchen to prepare dinner (the child gets two eggs tonight; punishment!!) but soon enough he shows me his smile – this – and I am falling back in love with our son again…